


lions, tigers, and bears, oh my

by slybrunette



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-10-13
Updated: 2009-10-13
Packaged: 2017-10-02 12:58:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slybrunette/pseuds/slybrunette
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post 6.04 - Tainted Obligation. They have to move. And learn to co-habit again. And avoid entering without knocking first.</p>
            </blockquote>





	lions, tigers, and bears, oh my

Derek comes home to an extra car in the driveway and bags propped up inside, next to the front door. Which is when he knows that any amount of bliss that he'd been experiencing having the house to just Meredith and himself was over. As was any control over the situation that he thought he might have had.

From upstairs, there is a shout and something drops to the floor as he listens to Meredith's footsteps on the stairs. She smiles sheepishly when she sees him.

Very calmly, Derek asks, "They're moving back in?"

Izzie, who had apparently been following Meredith, echoes this. "Yes, we're moving back in."

"Vacuum, Iz," comes Alex's yell from somewhere upstairs, and she snaps to it, presumably heading to where they keep the handheld vacuum. Derek decides that he would really rather not know why that's required.

Instead, he turns his attention back to Meredith who, per his and several other people's instructions was doing no heavy lifting and definitely not participating in vacuuming. Her surgery wasn't all that long ago. "You didn't tell me they were moving back in."

"Sorry," she says, making a face like she's trying desperately to find a way to put a positive spin on this. Like she thinks he might be mad. He's not. Disappointed, slightly, but unsurprised. Definitely not mad.

Izzie comes back in to the room, vacuum in tow, which is when Alex deigns to make his appearance, probably in an effort to be nice and schlep the not-so-light vacuum up the stairs. "I thought you liked the trailer," he says, to both of them, though he'd only really heard anything positive from Izzie, who apparently enjoyed the whole fresh air thing. Mostly, Alex alternated between groans and glares he thought Derek didn't see, but then he and Alex never had said a whole lot to each other.

"We did," Izzie replies, setting the vacuum down on the floor somewhere between her and Alex and putting her hands in the pockets of the cardigan she was wearing. "We just didn't like the neighbors."

"I don't have neighbors," Derek says, confused, "I own that whole property."

"Tell that to bear," Alex says, with a pained smirk that's either directed at him or Izzie, he isn't quite sure.

This is news to him. "Bear?"

"Wait," Meredith cuts in, standing up straight instead of leaning against the back of the couch like she had been doing. "I thought you said it was a deer."

Now there's a glare in place of Alex's smirk, and it's definitely directed at Izzie. "You told her it was a deer?"

"I told her it was a wildlife problem." Izzie corrects, over-enunciating the last two words, her tone all but daring him to push this further. Derek could only imagine what the past few months had been like with just the two of them in that trailer. Soon, it appeared he wouldn't have to imagine it; he'd get the full experience.

"There's a bear?" Meredith says, re-focusing the conversation and saving them from whatever retort Alex might have been coming up with.

"Yes," Izzie confirms, turning her gaze away from Alex and back on Meredith, looking marginally less homicidal. "Bear. Big, angry bear. Likes raw meat. Doesn't answer to Yogi."

Derek certainly hadn't come across that during his time in the trailer, and for that he's thankful. He likes nature, he likes fresh air, but he also has to draw the line somewhere. "So you're moving in?"

"We're moving in." Izzie replies. Now there's a smile on her face, and he can already see the obsessive Christmas decorating now. And she's just in time for the holidays. He forces himself to remember that these are Meredith's friends, and somehow also her messed up little homemade family and, by default, he has to be nice to them for her benefit, even if some days they are one giant inconvenience. "But it's only temporary."

He decides he'll start being nice in a minute. Or maybe tomorrow. But first, "That always seems to be the plan."

Izzie doesn't miss a beat. "Speaking of owning all that property, wasn't there supposed to be a house built? Or does Meredith just enjoy fire hazards?"

Alex laughs, making a mild effort to hide it. Meredith's eyes widen. "Oh, sure, throw me in the lions den. I'm only letting you move back in."

"More like the bear's den," Alex says, presumably before Izzie can because she locks eyes with him like they're somehow on the same wavelength before she cracks up. He wonders if they've been drinking. He wonders if he should be drinking.

"By the way, I heard you've been having sex on the countertops now, so I cleaned those," Izzie tells him, after a moment. "You can thank me later for that."

In a way, this is sort of amusing. He can play along. "What are you going to do about the stairs?"

Izzie matches his gaze. "Carpet cleaner."

"Dining room table?" He challenges. Now Meredith's laughing, half turned into his arm to stifle the sound.

"Done it," she says, matching his tone.

"You already cleaned that?" Meredith asks, regaining some form of composure.

"No, I meant I'd been there, done that."

Alex doesn't look even a little guilty but he also doesn't look pissed which insists that she's probably not talking about someone else either. "Well then this should be interesting."

She gives him a smile, daring but also kind of grateful that he's not making this into a big thing. Then she turns on her heel, and orders, "Alex," which Derek assumes is cue to follow her up the stairs with the vacuum and resume whatever it was that they were doing. Surprisingly, Alex does so with fairly little protest, like a trained dog. Those two redefine the word complicated.

When they're gone Meredith lets herself looked relieved. She still hasn't let go of his arm. "Thank you."

"It'll be fine," he half-lies, unconvinced that this won't in fact wear on his nerves at some point. He's trying to look on the bright side. "Besides, at least we don't have to clean."

Meredith laughs, a smile stretching her lips, and he's willing to have them here just for that sound and the accompanying look on her face. Just to make her happy.


End file.
